Kawika Kahoilua
Board President
Kianna Juda Angelo
Founder, Executive Director, Board Member
Mailo Komanta
Treasurer, Board Member
Barbara Rose Johnston
Board Member
Jacob Ericson
Board Member, Director of Environmental Compliance and Sustainability
Kianna Juda Angelo
Founder, Executive Director, Board Member
Kianna was born in the Republic of Marshall Islands but was adopted and raised in America since her earliest childhood. She has been serving communities since her young years, from youth counselor at summer camps in Oregon to volunteering and teaching handicapped children to ride horses for physical therapy lessons. She has worked with numerous NGOs, ranging from assisting Homeless food programs in the USA to the American Women's Club in Copenhagen, Denmark. She worked as a Domestic Violence Advocate for the Pierce County Domestic Violence & Suicide Hotline for three years, as well as a local Domestic Violence Women and Children Advisor for the Washington State Patrol. Always being a firm supporter of Women’s Rights and Child Protection, she has been a strong supporter and volunteer for the YWCA and shelters in both Tacoma, Washington and Portland, Oregon. Kianna is often giving time to local sustainability initiatives, such as the Lake Oswego City Sustainability Board and the Lake Oswego School Districts Green Team. She helped facilitate the start of a greenhouse program for local food and education in the local school district, where she has volunteered her time for all four of her children in their classrooms. In the last decade, Kianna has reconnected with her Marshallese heritage. Continuing her passion for serving communities, Kianna founded the international non-profit organization Living Islands in 2013 and co-founded the social justice organization COFA Alliance National Network in 2014. She continues to serve as Executive Director for Living Islands and as Board Member for CANN. Kianna is a strong believer in international community work and a fierce supporter of the United Nations and is a member of the United Nations Association. She is always working on connecting governments, organizational partners, commercial interests, Native Americans and indigenous communities across the globe. Kianna’s next goal in life is to pursue an education and career in International Trade & Sustainable Development. Kianna currently lives with her tri-cultural family in Lake Oswego, Oregon, with her four children and danish husband Jesper. With the full support of her family, Kianna is committed to her life goal of bringing development, opportunity and cross-cultural education to everyone.
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Barbara Rose Johnston
Board Member
Barbara Rose Johnston is an award-winning anthropologist and senior research fellow at the Center for Political Ecology in Santa Cruz and an affiliated member of the faculty at Michigan State and the University of California Santa Cruz where she explores the intersect between environment, health and human rights. Her research experience includes a major focus on the biomedical, psychosocial, cultural, and environmental impacts of the U.S. nuclear weapons testing program, including the history and consequences of its classified human radiation experimentation program. Since 1999 she has served as a scientific advisor and expert witness for the Marshall Islands Nuclear Claims Tribunal. Recent books of hers include Half-lives and Half-truths: Confronting the Radioactive Legacies of the Cold War; Consequential Damages of Nuclear War - The Rongelap Report; and the newly released Life & Death Matters: Human Rights, Environment and Social Justice.
Jacob Ericson
Board Member, Director of Environmental Compliance and Sustainability
Since his high school days, Shimkus has served as a leader in a growing sustainability effort in his hometown of Lake Oswego, Oregon and beyond. Working with the Sierra Club’s Student Coalition, Shimkus has organized and led multiple regional and national training on environmental and sustainability leadership, with a focus on project management. More recently, Shimkus has turned his focus internationally, where he has worked for several years with a range of international education and research organizations in sub-Saharan Africa. Following a year of international study and research in developing nations, Shimkus maintains an earnest passion for combining the benefits of environmental stewardship with the promises of development. As a part of the Living Islands team, Shimkus is looking forward to taking a whole systems-look at sustainability as it pertains to life in the Marshall Islands. Helping to create a model for sustainable living within the Marshall Islands is something of a personal dream for him, and one he looks forward to pursuing with the team. Shimkus is currently a senior at Claremont McKenna College in California pursuing a degree in International Relations and Economics with a focus on development. He is also working at the energy efficiency consultancy, PECI based in downtown Portland.
